The Rise and Fall of History II: Opposing the Present

by Medigo

The world of dueling has reached its climax. Many stories have been told through these cards, and the final story brought everyone together. People are united and yet, an unknown world suffers in their shadow. The fallen one returns in the midst of their peace, pursued and still a stranger to those around. There is not much time to save both his home and his friends.

21. The Light at the End

Redux 70: The Light at the End

Adamant's LP: 5400 Iria's LP: 2400 Uno's LP: 4600

Martel's LP: 8000 Queen's LP: 5000

"Raidraptor Wild Vulture, Raidraptor Mimicry Lanius. I pendulum summon these two!" With the scales of Odd-Eyes Unicorn and Xiangke Magician, Adamant could pendulum summon the green armor vulture(6/1600/2000) and the mimicry bird(4/1100/1900) in defense mode. "You cannot overcome me. Even with pendulum summon." As Martel still controlled El Shaddoll Grysta(7/2450/1950), he made an attempt to negate the special summon. "Well he's not dueling alone is he!" But Uno was not gonna let that happen again. "Pendulum Reborn! I special summon a pendulum monster from the extra deck!" He flipped his trap and special summoned Performapal Changeraffe(1/100/500) in defense mode. "Changeraffe chains one monster when she is summoned!" The Giraffe tossed the beaded hoop around its neck over to the Fire Shaddoll. Grysta was bound at the waist, so that its effects and attacks were sealed.

"You have my thanks, Uno." Adamant nodded at his teammate. "Wild Vulture's effect!" Adamant tributed the Vulture, so that it could special summon two Raidraptors from the graveyard whose levels added up to six. "Skull Eagles!" Adamant revived two demonic eagles(3/1000/500), monsters he had used in his previous turns. "Mimicry Lanius!" The other Raidraptor's effect raised the levels of all itself(5/1100/1900) and the Eagles(4/1000/500) by 1. "And Pain Lanius!" Finally he special summoned the tiny three-eyed Raidraptor(1/100/100) by targeting Skull Eagle on the field. It(4/100/100)'s effect copied the level of Skull Eagle, while also inflicting damage to Adamant equal to the targeted monsters defense points. "XYZ-summon! Raidraptor Rise Falcon!" Pain Lanius and the Skull Eagles attached themselves to one XYZ-monster, Adamants great Falcon(1/700/1000). It's attackpoints had gone up by 300 for each Skull Eagle XYZ-material. "I copy the attackpoints of the Queens monster!" Rise Falcon targeted Crystron Phoenix(10/3100/2300), and added the synchro monsters attackpoints to his XYZ-monster(3800/1000). "Rise Falcon, attack all special summoned monsters on the field!"

Adamant's LP: 4900

"Purusue Shaddoll Aion." Before the first hit could land, Martel flipped a trap card. "I send a Shaddoll from my deck, to empower my fused doll." Martel sent a Shaddoll Beast into the graveyard and added 1000 attackpoints to El Shaddoll Anoyatyllis(9/3700/2000). "That is not enough to stop Rise Falcon!" Adamant yelled and his Raidraptor fired its missiles away; three salvos for three monsters. El Shaddoll Grysta, Anoyatyllis and Crystron Phoenix died to the blazing carnage.

Queen's LP: 4300 Martel's LP: 6550

"It was not meant to save water and fire. It was meant for the light. When Anoyatyllis dies, one Shaddoll spell is returned to my hand. When Shaddoll Beast is sent to the graveyard, one card is drawn." Martel drew one card and retrieved El Shaddoll Fusion. "If you can get to that! Satellite Cannon direct attacks!" Adamant charged a laser with his other XYZ-Raidraptor(8/3000/3000). "No." The puppetmaster moved his finger and the Queen stepped up in front of him. "You couldn't!" The possessed girl took the direct attack for Martel. "Damn you." Adamant's attack kept going; she was knocked to the ground by the cannons blasts.

Queen's LP: 1300

"Hey!" Meanwhile Martel jumped into the air on the back of Satellite Cannon Falcon. "What are you doing? Get away from him!" Iria shouted, as he closed in on Zach. "I end my turn!" Adamant said, which caused his Satellite Falcon to come back to him and shake off Martel. It was too late though. "Fusion! Summon!" Martel activated El Shaddoll Fusion, to fuse Shaddoll Hound in his hand with the last monster Zach controlled; Krystal Avatar(4/1800/1800). "You.. can fuse with that too?" Iria was disgusted and angered. Martel took advantage of Zach even after the disciple lost all his lifepoints. "He is mine, even in death. Come, El Shaddoll Construct!" The light-type Krystal Avatar and the shadow hound formed a fusion of light. It was the white-faced purple-clad doll giant(8/2800/2500), El Shaddoll Construct. "That one.." Uno noticed it resembled something, it looked like the girl doll Martel was carrying around in his free arm. He had no idea what was up with that though. "Construct destroys any who were special summoned." The Shaddoll's attack came in the form of a hundred energy strings. "Hmph." They tangled around Rise Falcon and disassembled it feather by feather. Adamant could not retaliate, since Construct's effect destroyed monsters before damage calculation. "You will pay for this, all of this!" Iria swore. "You can try." Martel smiled. "But you will fail."

...

Alice's LP: 2800 Eric's LP: 5550 Dame Phoebe's LP: 7000

"That's so sweet. You're going after me. Me! With a fusion no less! You have as much chance here as you did at he tournament!" Dame Phoebe was alone now, her accomplice was removed from the equation. "Working well so far!" Eric placed a monster down and passed the turn to her. "I made you what you are, I can unmake you." Phoebe immediately activated her spell, Frightfur Fusion. "Yeah? How are you gonna do that when I can stop your fusions?" Eric activated Onuncu(10/3000/3000)'s negation effect. The Infernoid tributed Eric's facedown monster to block Frightfur Fusion and destroy it. "You can only do that once each turn, Eric!" Phoebe tossed the card aside and focused on two others. "Come my little Imps!" She normal summoned Edge Imp Saw(3/500/1000) first. Edge Imp Sabres(3/800/1200) then special summoned itself from her graveyard by sending a random card from her hand to the top of the deck. "Two Edge Imps.. no.. two dark monsters." Alice recognized this setup. "You're not going to.." The same materials were used against Cassius and Ichirou. "Teehee." Phoebe activated another Polymerization.

"FUSION SUMMON! STARVE VENOM FUSION DRAGON!"

"No way!" Darkness mixed with darkness. Polymerization fused Sabres and Saw to create the third of three dragons; the carnivorous fusion dragon Starve Venom(8/2800/2000). "Aahhh.." Up close this twisted perversion of Odd-Eyes was even more terrifying than Alice's imagination had built it up to be. "The dragon that the world forgot. You missed out on its grand comeback. Such a shame." Dame hummed as her poisonous beast unleashed its powers. "He's hungry again.. So he will drain your special summoned monsters attackpoints, Eric!" Starve Venom stabbed Infernoid Tierra(11/3400/3600) with veins shooting from its wings, drinking Tierra's power as if it were blood. "Then he will dine on flesh!" The powered Starve Venom(6200/2000) lashed out with its tail next. The tip transformed into a tooth filled maw and it chomped down on Infernoid Onuncu. "Grgraaaaaahrhgh!" A chunk of his lifepoints were torn away, which translated into a sharp pain that Eric felt in his chest. "Eric!" Alice cried out and rushed to his side. "Heh. I like this guy. He's useless now as a codekeeper, but he'll do splendidly as my new pet." Phoebe placed two traps and ended her turn.

Eric's LP: 2350

"I'm okay." Eric groaned. "It's not that bad, Alice. You can take that dragon.." It was up to her first. "But.." It was just a card, nothing more. Its(2800/2000) power-ups did not even last another turn. However, this card was special, just by appearance alone. "If anything happens. I've got your back." Eric promised. He wouldn't let her get hurt. "I.. okay." Eric did plenty for her already. When he summoned Infernoid Tierra, three cards were discarded from her deck. One of those was Nekroz Kaleidoscope. "I banish Nekroz Kaleidoscope and Nekroz Exa the Enforcer from my graveyard!" Alice used Kaleidoscope's effect from the graveyard to search her deck for a new ritual spell; her third and final Nekroz Cycle. "And because I banished Exa.. I can summon one of my banished Nekroz monsters!" A portal to the other dimension opened, a way out of the banished zone for the Great Sorcerer of Nekroz(4/1500/800). "I'll ritual summon Nekroz of Unicore again!" Alice tributed the Great Sorcerer on her field for Nekroz Cycle. And the recycling ritual spell special summoned the Unicore mage(4/2300/1000) from the graveyard.

"Come get me then! If you're not scared, prove it!" Phoebe goaded her. With Ritual Stage still on the field, her ritual monster would have no problems killing Starve Venom. "..Y-yes!" Unicore gathered ice-cold energy within its staff, and drew even more energy from the field spell. With the battle phase underway, Alice and her Nekroz(3300/1000) began their assault. "Kay! Your head rolls off first! I activate Battle Fusion!" It was shortlived, Dame Phoebe's quickplay spell powered up Starve Venom Fusion Dragon(5100/2000), giving it Unicore's attackpoints. "Aaah!" Alice could not undo her attack order. "Necro Gardna!" Leaving Eric to jump in. "I banish this card from my graveyard to negate an attack!" A dark warrior threw his shield in the path of Unicore's ice blast, and kept it away from the stronger Fusion dragon. "Ha! Tierra discarded a card like that and you didn't use it until now?" Phoebe growled. Necro Gardna could have stopped her attack the previous turn. "No. He did it to help me!" Alice understood Erics reasoning far better than Phoebe did. "That's right! I know Battle Fusion is your favorite trick, Phoebe! I saved my Necro card for something that could be fatal!"

"Tcheheh." But now the Dame did something unexpected. "Heyheyhey! Where are you going?" She hopped on top of her own Venom Dragon. "Hit me if you can!" The dragon snatched the unconscious duelist Luther with its claws and flew up to the top. She stopped near a hole in the ceiling. "You really think I wont try to hit you while you're flying!?" Eric yelled. "I don't like this Eric." Alice placed a card in the spell/trap zone and passed the turn to him. "Me neither. But we can't let her win. You got my back?" He asked. She nodded. "Good. Phoebe, this is the end of the road! Infernoid Tierra attacks Starve Venom Fusion Dragon!" Eric's fusion of hells serpents could cross the distance easily, what with how massive it was. It fired a gargantuan burst of infernal flames once it was close enough to Starve Venom. "Heehahahaa! I knew you would try to use your fusions against me one day, Eric!" couldn't be happier. "TRAP CARD; FINAL FUSION!" Starve Venom launched a countershot, which intercepted the hellfire. Both attacks collided. "Final Fusion!?"

"That's right! A fight between two fusion monsters is negated, and then damage is inflicted equal to their attackpoints!" The demon and the dragon shared a combined 6200 attackpoints. "That damage is for all players!" That was why she put distance between them. To extend the radius of her trap's effect. "What!?" It was now that Uno and the others noticed the light from below, and the duel going on. Phoebe was as close to them as she was to Eric and Alice. "What did she do?" Iria saw venomous light and hellish red mix together and explode outwards. "You are all going to die here! Hehaha!" Only Martel and Phoebe held enough lifepoints to sustain 6200 points of damage. They would be victorious and everyone else would die in one fell swoop. "No I.." Eric stared with wide eyes. He'd doomed them all. "Eric. This is not the end." Somehow, despite that, Alice looked determined. "If we can't win. Then we'll do the next best thing." She stepped back to reveal her own trap, which formed a chain link with Final Fusion. "Unbreakable Spirit!" It powered Tierra(6200/3600) up with the attackpoints from Starve Venom. "But that means!" There were 9000 attackpoints in that Final explosion now. "NO!" Phoebe cringed and screamed. It was too late; the trap resolved. The flames broke out, shaking the foundation of the tunnels.

Alice's LP: 0 Eric's LP: 0 Dame Phoebe's LP: 0

Adamant's LP: 0 Iria's LP: 0 Uno's LP: 0

Martel's LP: 0 Queen's LP: 0

The blast seemingly consumed them all. Yet it was not to be. "Now?" Of all times, this was the moment that Uno's pendulum flared up. "!" For whatever reason, perhaps the presence of another legendary dragon, the crystal created a field around every duelist that lasted until the outbursts finished. And when they did, the duelists weren't in the same spot anymore. They were seemingly further down the tunnel, sounds of rocks caving in could be heard in the distance. "You teleported us out?" Eric couldn't be surprised anymore. "I suppose I did.. Is everyone okay!?"

"Yes." Iria said as soon as she confirmed those that were still with them. The nameless Bishop and Stonewell lied against the walls. The Pawn and Zach rested on the ground. "But what about Phoebe, and Martel?" Uno looked around nervously, worried that he brought them along too. "It appears you only brought those you wanted, or could." Adamant saw no trace of either. "They probably fled the scene. It was their loss as much as ours. Even if they managed to get away from the cave-in, they will not risk another with lesser numbers." With the duel resulting in a tie, neither side could claim victory over the other. "Uhm.. the one we fought is gone too." Alice said. The Knight had still been in Phoebe's clutches when they last saw her. Likewise the Queen Tara was close to Martel. "Damn. I guess Martel is going to make them into his slaves again. Ugh." Uno wished he could have done more; to save more of them. "How can he even do those things? Did the fusion guild teach him, or did he teach it to the fusion guild?" The mysteries kept piling on. "At least, we saved some." Iria stated with a content smile. They had Zach back, that was a good start.

"Oh no!" Alice suddenly shrieked.. "I forgot to tell you!" She shook Eric by his shoulders. "Whoa-whoa! Easy there. Forgot to tell me what?"

"They have your mom.. and my dad! Phoebe, the fusion guild!" She let it all out. "MOM? What! Why!? What did they do to her? If they hurt her!" Eric was frantic. He felt his heart beat ten times its normal speed. "They wanted.. Uno's card. Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon." She revealed as she looked up at Uno. "That's what I heard too. But to see them go this far.." Uno looked at his Pendulum dragon. Was it worth it to keep it, if it put their parents in danger? "Why would they ask for the fourth dragon?" Adamant inquired as he gave both Uno and Iria a stern look. "Because Dom put a fragment of his decryption key into this card as well." Uno replied. "Dom? He never spoke of that with me." The disciple was honestly shocked to hear it. "I guess he wanted one more precaution. He didn't tell anyone." Phoebe probably only found out because the three cards weren't enough by themselves. "But they got away! And now they're going to.." Alice did not want to think of what could happen next. "Uno, we have to do something!" Eric cursed. "I know. But we can't do anything from here, with all those rocks in the way."

"We should get out of here. We lost almost an hour to this." Iria had her eye on the clock, it was almost morning. "Dang. Forgot about that. Well hopefully that teleport shaved off a few minutes. We might make it in time if we rush to the exit." They were still in the same tunnel, so it would be easy to pick up from where they were stopped before. ."...but what about the others? We aren't gonna leave them behind, are we?" They had four people to take care of now, Stonewell, Zach and two of Martels victims. "If they will not slow us down." Iria stressed that point. "I should be capable of carrying them all with a solid vision construct. I have enough energy stored in the dueldisk for another hour. However, forward flight is not advised in these narrow tunnels." He would have taken them all for a Raidraptor ride if he could. "You wont need to carry four."

"Eric? Ehr Other Eric!" Alice flinched. "Stonewell." He corrected her. "That big explosion of yours was enough to keep me awake for the next ten days. What happened, where are the enemies? Why am I not.." His last memory involved him losing a duel. By all rights he should have been turned into one of Martels puppets. "I dropped in and held Martel busy before he could get to you. The battle ended in a draw though, and an explosion separated us." Uno explained it quickly. "Oh. So basically they got away.. But that also means I owe you my life.. Uno." Stonewell felt surprisingly glad to say it. "Don't mention it. I'm happy to still have you around. But like Iria said. We really can't afford a lot of time on standing around. So let's catch up as we go." Uno only did what he felt was the right thing to do anyway. Whether he was Eric or a total stranger. "Agreed. But one day I will pay you back, Uno." The two nodded at each other and Uno turned to Eric and Alice. "Whatever happened to Phoebe. I'm sure her guild wont do anything bad to your family. Not if they want my card that much." If they ever got that card though, all bets were off. "Yeah." Eric sighed. "Let's just get out of this damn darkness."

After all that chaos, the rest of the journey through the tunnels went by in what felt like minutes. Nothing happened on the way to the surface, no more attacks and no more surprises. None of their passengers woke up either, much to Iria's disappointment. "This should be it." At the end was another blockade, one that Adamant managed to pry open with the help of his monsters. Sunlight peered through the cracks as the cement blocks fell. The exit brought them outside at the bottom of a dam. "Wow.." Control City was before them, in all its splendor. "And I thought Skyheart looked rad." Multiple bridges crossed the lake that surrounded the city, which looked like a futuristic tropical resort from the outer ring. Cubical homes were stacked on top of each other, forming living complexes. Some were even below sea level. Parks, trees and rainhouses covered every angle. Beyond lied the more heavily industrialized district, with clean soundless factories and stations. At the center were the towers, the domain of Millennium. "I guess. That is where we have to go to complain about stuff." Uno saw the largest of these tower, the same one that stood in front of every horizon. "Gonna be a long walk."

"TARGETS ACQUIRED"

"No!" Stonewell jerked his head towards the sky. A dozen templars hovered above them. "Them? How?" According to his radar, the area was supposed to be clear. "They knew we were coming?" Iria checked her clock, it wasn't 7 AM yet. Flake was still supposed to be locked behind his barrier. "Something went wrong.. I.." Stonewell had no explanation, or a next course of action. "Uno. What should we do?" Alice stood close by him as the Templars swarmed nearer and nearer. "We.."

"You want to know?" One of the Templars replied, using a voice that wasn't its own. "!" Iria flinched. It was her voice. The Templar projected an image of the Inquisitor. "I figured you were using some kind of detection system to evade capture so effectively. So I just had a dozen standing by on sleepmode. It was that simple." She placed her fingers against each other. "Now you can surrender your disks, or duel all my Templars. The choice is yours."

(To be Continued in Redux 069: Hell and Heaven on Earth)

New Cards used by Adamant
Raidraptor - Wild Vulture

New Cards used by Martel
Shaddoll Hound
Shaddoll Beast

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El Shaddoll Construct

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Puruse Shaddoll Aion

New Cards used by Eric Stonewell
Necro Gardna

New Cards used by Dame Phoebe
Final Fusion

New Cards used by Alice Brandt
Unbreakable Spirit